The word ontology comes from the Greek ontos for being and logos for word. It is a relatively new term in the long history of philosophy, introduced by the 19th century German philosophers to distinguish the study of being as such from the study of various kinds of beings in the natural sciences. The traditional term for the types of beings is Aristotle's word category, which he used for classifying anything that can be said or predicated about anything.


John F. Sowa, "Building, Sharing and Merging Ontologies" on jfsowa.com. Last Modified: 01/18/2009.

John F. Sowa Quotes

The word ontology comes from the Greek ontos for being and logos for word. It is a relatively new term in the long history of philosophy, introduced...

The word ontology comes from the Greek ontos for being and logos for word. It is a relatively new term in the long history of philosophy, introduced...

The word ontology comes from the Greek ontos for being and logos for word. It is a relatively new term in the long history of philosophy, introduced...

The word ontology comes from the Greek ontos for being and logos for word. It is a relatively new term in the long history of philosophy, introduced...